Luffy

So basically two countries who were always qualified and were both winners and finalists of some of the last six world cups fall behind a country who never qualified on his own ?

And stade of France also host a lot of rugby matches, concerts etc. Is it really that strange to other countries that people and politics in France like the idea of having 20 teams in 20 rather big cities instead of having 7 clubs in Paris just because it's the capital ? Paris has a good football, handball, more than decent Basket and two Rugby teams, does it really need more than this ? I think that's cooler to have a first league team in almost in every big city but that's just my opinion

Yes but that's denying two simple truth about olympics bids. Firstly that there is others countries able to do one as good as you and Secondly there will be one great bid for at least one of those countries. No one is denying that the US can win an olympic bid for example, but there is no chance a SOG race end up in a 2022 situation where LA is left only with Baku. Sure the US can 2024 but like Tokyo in 2020, they will have at least to defeat one of the likes of Rome, Berlin and Durban etc

There will always be another viable candidate against them and Paris like any other cities has to accept that. We are used to the: "We won't make a bid if we don't think we can win" blabla from everyone. And it's pretty stupid to be honest. The only way Paris or any major European city, or the USA cannot be contenders is when their continents isn't favored by the IOC geopolitics. Apart from that there is always hope but also there is always going to be at least one or two major contenders in the mix, a Rome, Madrid, Berlin, LA, Cape Town, and Shanghai to fight against them. What Paris should really asked themselves is 'do they need these' rather than having them just because they want them. Is there a way this event can be used to revamp districts of the capitals, to improve transport, to create permanent jobs and obtain new contracts etc? To be honest I think the city could use it but obtain the same things with spending less money. I think France's sport has really improved for decades now. We have basically decent teams in every collective sport, decent athletes in a lot of sports and he still on the rise. Paris's Defense district is still the first economical district of Europe and Paris is still in the most visited cities. France is the country with most visitors in the world. Would the Olympics really improve that much what's basically doing the best in France? Paris had two serious bids and was rejected twice, maybe it's better for us to go Madrid's way and focus on others things and just accept that the IOC just prefers to go to different places.

My bad i didn't know that sorry! But what i meant is that if Toronto needs somethin ouf of the city for any sport events, it should be in Ontario area & the Quebec, East Canada in fact. Not anyway near the West.

I think a Toronto bid should focus on their region for all sports events including football. Ontario & Quebec are more than sufficient to do a good OG, you can of course add Nova Scotia, Labrador & New brunswik for the sailing stuff but that's it Besides BC & Vancouver already got their olympic glory.

Unlike a lot of people i don't think a Toronto game would be something crazy to dream of, but do you really think anything serious can be done in London for a bid where the vote will take place in five years? All you will get is IOC member & the president saying it would be a great bid with a great opportunity to win, but hey they say that to everybody, the more the merrier for them. I bet Jacky Roggy even says to Baku & Doha & La Havana they are learning from their mistakes and doing much better when he knows it's dead in the water

I just hope they are going to change the voting procedure and the voters, don't have anything against thoses countries (and i understand that every continent should have at least a couple of voters) but i can't see why people from Papua New Guinea, Guatemala, Thailand, Cyprus, Sri Lanka & Jordan or Qatar decided the winner with only 22 voters. They should get at least a few Italians members and more Brazilians, Dutch or Germans voters into this.

Ok the Spice girls were a hit a few years ago, and Leona Lewis was doing well when they did the London segment for Beijing's closing ceremony but come on ! The UK music industry always has been one of the top in the world, and most of the time number 1. They have top acts, classy acts with wonderful songs in all kinds of modern music and they bring us the spice girls At least they won't do the opening!

I disagree with the idea the euro won't be competitive with 8 more teams. Can you really say that with Norway, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzgovina, Slovenia, Turkey, Israel, Romania & Switzerland for example, the euro would've been less competitive???? People who says that don't watch europeans and world cup qualifiers as a lot of countries, even in the small one are extremely hard to play! especially the ex-yugoslavia & Balkans ones! Don't forget there is only 6 top seeds, so with the host + England, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy & France (and the help of that crazy fifa ranking) you will still see some England-France and Germany - Portugal in the group stage.

The thing is that everyone in France, in europe, in the world and in the french team and every journalists who saw the last 20 matchs knows that Nasri offers NOTHING for france! Nothing! never a pass forward, he never defends, never attacks, he never runs. All he is doing is keeping the ball for 3 seconds before giving it back to defenders behind him! And the only one who don't see is Laurent Blanc! I can understand the players and the french journalist people & frustration when every f*cking attack we do is on the left side and Ribery who runs for 90 minutes in particular. How are we supposed to fasten the game and create danger when on the right there is just an arrogant douche who is only walking the all match and never offers a good pass or a solution to help Either Benzema or Ribery?

Well it has been a one way match for the last 100 minutes. I'm very dissapointed by England and very impressed by Italy. It' s a shame, England started well and then start again to play like Greece again! A team like Enlang must be able to make 3 good pass and to have at least above 45% possesion at least!

What hurts the most, and it should be the same for Croatia is how much Spain can be defeated if you believe in you, once again they were good but not that good and certainly not invisible! I would be really dissapointed if they win 1-0 over portugal before winning against Germany/England/Italy 1-0 too with the exact same dull game lol

This is the only quarter where there is no real favorite before the match, it's really 50/50 and it should be fun to watch! Obvioulsy Portugal, Spain & Germany are the three favorites in theirs quaters

I think France was so sufficient they didn't even thought Sweden would pose a threat! And Samir Nasri just has to go! Ribéry is the only creating real danger on the left side, so all the defense is on that side! Samir Nasri can't do anything when he has a defenser in front of him! He just never make a pass forward!

Can someone explain me what France "needs" to fail to qualify? If i'm correct they need Ukraine to defeat England 1-0 and and Loose to Sweden 3-0?

God that was such a wonderful euro and now one of the best team go stupidly! We can have a Denmark/Czech quarter and one very very okayish team in the semi and then who knows and god save us from the greek getting their quaters to the penalties!. This euro deserve better.

Both countries had their chances and it's a draw for now! Although Ukraine are so much worse than France for most players they play with their hearts and of course their aging diamand is till sparkling:p

I didn't thought that the German's match was that good! In the first round they had only 3 occassions and scores twice. And in the second half they weren't that good in counter attack but they looked very very strong in defense! I think the Switzerland game may have scare them a little and they don't go too much forward. I also think the attack is good but Khedira & Ozil are a big let down for me at the moment, they don't produce enough quality and actions to give the occassions Gomez's deserves, Podolski & Muller aren't that good right now and they need to improve to make sure Germany wins this time! After all Gomez can't score 100% of the good balls he get forever. The Netherlands were just horrible, i love that team game usually but they were terrible at this euro, i'm so dissapointed in them!

I'm just atonished at some people still calling this a bad euro! Even this who was, let's be honest, when of the least attractive match on the paper turn off to be really fun and entertainning to watch!

Well i can't say i'm very dissapointed. I knew they were afraid of a bad start, like in WC 2006 or Euro 1996 after two very dissapointing finals (or no finals at all) and that they wouldn't play that well. But still i thought they look solid for the most part in defense and the possesion was good & there is still room for aprovement in the last 30 meters but i have confidence in Ribery, Benzema & Giroud so it can go well but who knows ? I don't think most people who knows about football or are real supporters of the french team really expected a victory. They obviously hoped for it but i think what they wanted was the team to play decently and not to loose. Besides, everybody knew England was a good side and despite a few problems in the build up to the euro they were going to put a big fight. Of course in France it's quite strange compared to let's say England, Italy or Netherlands. if they loose, nobody cares about the team, when they start to score and be unbeaten for some time and everybody loves them and should they go far in the tournament everybody expected it and was sure of it, not a lot of real fans of the team. So all this people who can't even explain what an off-side is and who thinks Chelsea is a cheese, are suddenly fans and you should read from them on forums or even in newspapers that France is going to win easily against England 4-0 but that we should pay attention to Uruguay or Mexico in this euro... But i think the real fans are happy with the draw, they know France can start with two draw or be the group runner-up and still go very far. I love our team because i think it's in world football what Norway is to eurovision. We are ridiculous way too much times, as much are they are last in the contest, but once a while the team is going to wake up and reach the final and even win the damn thing, like norway is going to win eurovision

I'm a little stunned to see some people not enjoying this! I thought that first part of the match was mostly entertainning, nice football, good or great goals, surprises & full of suspense. I really like the euro so far and so much more than the last WC at the moment!

Well i think a draw is the most logical score, even if i believe france played a little better! Still i think England has more to be worry about that France at the moment! The French got them too easily at the off-side game, their possesion is way too low for such a team on paper and only 3 shots with all the possibilties they had (and just one on target) is really not enough! But still they were quite solid and there is room for improvement!

Big lol at france moving to 7/1 and third favorites to win the damn thing when they haven't play yet!

Prediction England 2- France 1